MM's all important first pre season game player analysis

So here is what I noticed last night as I watched the game

Lillard looked the same. I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but he did. He also seemed a bit disinterested. (pre season I know, but still)

Matthews was meh. In fact maybe not that good. Poor shooting and poor defense

Batum looked aggressive, which I loved, but he didn't really seem to play within whatever semblance of an offense there was

Robinson was what the Kings and Rockets thought he was last night. What he was was alright, but he wasn't all that

Lopez is not a rim protector, but he works hard and has a bit of a nasty streak, so that's nice

Freeland was terrible

Claver made smart plays and should see the floor more

Bost looked fine, but it doesn't matter because he wont be on the opening day roster

Crabbe is the quintessential 3pt specialist who can't shoot

Barton looked like he may have improved slightly

Leonar_ was horrible. How many years do we need to wait for him?

I couldn't care less if the team won or lost, but I was really disappointed in the offense and defense. the offense looked stagnant (could be because LA was out) No flow at all. the defense was still pathetic. No rotation, no trapping


As for anyone why was against trading for DeAndre Jordan this summer, you should give yourself a self imposed 3 day suspension from the forum.

 

Who cares? We had 5 players out. It was the first pre season game. We'll get much better.

 

Maybe Freeland was terrible, but he was a lot better than last year. He blocked a Griffin dunk attempt, but got called for a foul. He has looked a good deal better than last year in all footage I've seen of him (except for bobbling balls on offense). He might even be worthy of around 5 mpg!

Sad to say, in this game, he looked better than Robinson.

Claver also looks improved - he should've got a lot more minutes, I think.

Jordan made Lopez look very slow and unathletic. It was rather painful (especially in the first quarter, where Jordan just seemed to stuff everything Robin was attempting). But part of that was us letting them play their game. Lopez can't be any more lumbering than Marc Gasol, we just have to know how to use him right.

 

One note: the Clippers announcers were bragging about their depth, but they looked pretty bad as soon as the starters left. In particular, Darren Collison is just a shadow of what we thought he was after his rookie year. And I don't think Crawford is going to have half as much fun this year as he did last.

 

As someone among that number, I will concede that he looked pretty amazing in this game (much better than Blake Griffin, in fact).
Here is my attempt at a defense:
First, the Clippers announcers were as amazed as we were. They kept talking about how he has changed completely, giving up soda (which he was apparently addicted to) and being in the best shape of his life. So us Jordan deniers were making the rational prediction based on his past. Would he have made this effort if he were traded to Portland? Hard to say. He strikes me as the sensitive type, and maybe it was wanting to stay in LA and/or Doc Rivers that lit a fire under him. It's sort of the reverse of the Jermaine O'Neal thing: everyone says now that we should've held on to him, but I think he would never have blossomed if he'd stayed. He went to a place where the guy who traded for him was essentially his coach and was ready to feed his ego and boost him 100%.

Finally: let's see if he can keep this up.
Finally finally: who says we COULD have traded for him? He makes over $10 mil. Who would we have given up? Was there ever an actual offer?

 

My notes:

-Claver getting a consistent 10mpg will be a serious positive for the team. Hard to see where he will get this, though unless there are injuries.

-Dame looked better to me at finishing at the rim (with contact) on a few drives. And his handle looked much tighter. Shots didn't fall for the most part, or he woulda seemed much better. And definitely more of a concerted effort on D. Unfortunately, CP has a way of destroying guys without dominating the box-- this was the case last night.

-Our backup frontcourt of Wright/TRob/Leonard is gonna be pretty decent when you put them up against other backups

-Lopez should not attempt anywhere close to 10 shots unless he's absolutely feeling it. Dude had so many layups go in and out. Awful touch.

-Shoot the ball, Nic. ugh

-Wes looks like his development has stagnated.

 

I should have said this. Lillard did look like he was concentrating on defense much more than last year.

 

I was happy to be able to watch the game but if I had to see one more commercial with that stupid between the legs pass from Crawford to Griffin for the alley-oop I was going to scream and throw something at the TV.

 

I think Lopez looked good. Let's be realistic, how many teams in the league have bigs that are as athletic as the Clippers? Not to mention the fact that there's only one Chris Paul, so I think Lopez will be fine. He played good defense, he rebounded, and he had some good putbacks. That's all I expected out of him.

Lillard looked good in the first half, but he looked tired later on, and the Clippers realized that he was our only real offensive threat. That will change when LMA and Mo Williams come back. Most encouraging is that he's getting calls and he's getting to the line. His shooting was off, but I don't think that will be a trend.

Biggest problem was that we had no depth at point guard last night, so Lillard ended up playing some pretty long stretches. No Watson and no Mo Williams was a pretty big factor.

Crabbe had some good stretches and I like the kid. I think he'll come around. His shooting was streaky, but he was active. He rebounded the ball very well for a guard (he had six boards).

I thought Leonard looked fine. Some people will never be happy with the kid, and that's their prerogative. He had 10 points and six boards off 3-7 shooting. Coming off the bench, I'm fine with that.

Matthews was horrible last night, but I have to think that will change as the preseason goes on. His shooting was off and he looked out of shape.

My biggest concern with Thomas Robinson is that the team is running him at the top of the key. He isn't Aldridge. We don't want him dribbling that much. He had five turnovers and most of them were from trying to dribble into the key. He had a few nice passes and he rebounded okay. I want to see him post up on the block. Or go to the baseline, which was Zach Randolph's bread and butter.

 

Completely agree with this - could not believe how bad Collison looks now.

 

He was sure getting his calls from the refs though. The NBA refs were in mid-season form.

 

I hope we figure out quickly that he isn't really much of an option on offense. Dude is better suited as a Chuck Hayes than a Carl Landry.

 

The D to Meyers Leonard's O?

 

He's a garbage man right now. I mean, you can throw him lobs and such, but he's not Aldridge. He can't stand at the top of the key. He needs to be down in the paint where he can box out and rebound, which is what he's really good at.

 

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...aims-want-deandre-jordan-traded-kevin-garnett

 

Yes let's declare deandre Jordan a savior off of one pre-season game! Lol

 

Hmm, I can't remember anyone saying savior until your post. He did look better than any center we have had on our roster since.......

 

Hickson had a 20 rebound game. Well shit man; he's better than Jordan. I mean we declare true value from one game.

 

Jordan played more defense last night than JJ has played his entire career.